African leaders pledge support for immunisation

Calls for GAVI Alliance to do more at launch of “Immunise Africa 2020” leaders’ declaration in Abuja

Launch of “Immunise Africa 2020” leaders’ declaration in Abuja – From left to right: Prof. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum; Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank and President Macky Sall of the Republic of SenegalCredit: World Economic Forum.

Abuja, 8 May 2014 – African leaders have pledged to prioritise sustainable immunisation programmes as part of continued investment in the healthy futures of children and families in their countries.

The Immunise Africa 2020 leaders‘ declaration, launched in Abuja today during an event hosted by Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank, recognises the US$ 700 million that African Governments are projected to spend on co-financing vaccines purchased by the GAVI Alliance between 2016 and 2020. This is additional to the billions of dollars African countries already spend on health services.

The declaration text also highlights the strong progress being made on improving the health of people across Africa but calls on the GAVI Alliance and its partners to do more to help continue the decline in child death rates on the continent. President Kaberuka was joined at the event by President Macky Sall of the Republic of Senegal and President Jakaya Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania who offered their endorsement.

“Immunisation is one of the most important investments we are making in our children and in their future,” said President John Dramani Mahama of the Republic of Ghana who had endorsed the Declaration prior to the event. “We are committed to ensuring that vaccine programmes in Ghana will be sustainable, so that our children are fully protected from potentially fatal diseases.”

President Kikwete further added that "immunisation represents one of the smartest investments we can make in the health of our citizens and the future of our nations.”

“As leaders of this dynamic continent, we will ensure that our children have access to the best, most sustainable technologies to provide them with the best possible start in life,” added President Sall.

“The investments countries are making in vaccines today will reap enormous benefits in the short and the near term,” said President Kaberuka. “By committing to immunisation, African leaders are taking a bold step towards securing their countries’ prosperity and economic security.”

African leaders’ support for the Immunise Africa 2020 declaration comes less than two weeks before a major meeting in Brussels where the GAVI Alliance will present to its partners the funding requirements needed during the five-year period from the beginning of 2016 to build upon the gains already achieved against the biggest killers of children.

President Macky Sall of the Republic of Senegal with the Immunise Africa 2020 leaders' declaration.Credit: GAVI/2014/Yehuda Goldman.

Donor funding will be crucial and catalytic to securing GAVI-supported programmes through to 2020 but implementing countries are also playing their part through the Alliance’s co-financing and graduation policies.

Under the co-financing policy, countries make a financial payment – starting at $0.20 per dose for the poorest countries – towards the costs of vaccines supplied by the GAVI Alliance. Between 2011 and 2015 African countries will make US$ 254 million in co-financing payments. Between 2016 and 2020 the figures is projected to almost treble to an estimated US$ 700 million.

The GAVI Alliance’s graduation policy also supports African countries towards self-sufficient immunisation programmes. When a country’s gross national income (GNI) per capita exceeds a threshold, currently US$ 1,570, it enters the graduation phase. This means that GAVI Alliance vaccine funding diminishes over a period of five years until the countries’ vaccine programmes have become fully self-sufficient.

The commitments – both political and financial – from implementing countries are a vital part of the success of the GAVI Alliance. Donor funding and work to reduce vaccine prices are the other two key pillars that have enabled the global public-private partnership to fund the immunisation of 440 million children since 2000, saving approximately six million lives.

The GAVI Alliance is funded by governments (Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States), the European Commission, the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as private and corporate partners (Absolute Return for Kids, Anglo American plc., the A&A Foundation, The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Comic Relief, the ELMA Vaccines and Immunization Foundation, JP Morgan, “la Caixa” Foundation, LDS Charities, Lions Club International Foundation, and Vodafone).